Having established the portfolio of projects with a robust annual portfolio planning effort, how do executives make sure they spend their time wisely and effectively, only on projects that need their focus? In many organizations, executives find themselves pulled into projects on a daily basis and end up spending a lot of time on basic issues and decisions that really should have or could have been resolved without them. 

This is the third installment in our series on Project and Portfolio Management.

​In order to set sail, first you have to know where you are going! Set the course for your portfolio of projects with a robust annual portfolio planning process. This process is helpful in setting, agreeing-to, and prioritizing the project goals and objectives for the upcoming year. Most critical to this step is Executive involvement!

As organizations invest increasingly more money & resources into projects, making sure that you have the right projects, managed efficiently, reviewed regularly, and delivering what they promise is the essence of good Portfolio Planning & Management (PPM). Here are some of the key features of a robust and effective PPM process.

If the last two years have shown us anything, it is the importance of our technology to ensure we maintain productivity — and set our employees up for success. In this time, a functional hybrid or remote work model is crucial. But just how well is your organization doing in this area? Brad Anderson and Seth Patton's article for Harvard Business Review presents an opportunity for reflection on the state of our technology today.

There is no such thing as too much knowledge. Project management skills can benefit anyone, even those not in project management. In her article, Forbes writer Dana Brownlee provides 4 project management skills everyone should know.

Our Client was the brand-new CIO of a large organization. She was being bombarded with “feedback” from all directions about what she needed to “fix” in IT. Her gut said that IT needed to regroup and refocus, but how was she to know what the real problems were, what was working well, what was significant, and what was just “noise”?

Surveys can be powerful tools as they can unearth challenges, concerns, and suggestions from respondents. When developing a survey, we often solicit an open-ended response at the beginning before the respondent has had the chance to read about specific topics of the survey. Their feedback is therefore more likely to be spontaneous and unbiased. 

PMI projects employers will need to hire 2.2 million professionals each year through 2027 to fill Project Management roles.

What do you think of this prediction?

Do you feel like Michael Scott, or is your technology strategy so well defined that you know exactly what to do?

While you are in the throes of a change effort, following an Organizational Change Management Framework will keep the project on track. Here is a look at the second phase in our OCM Framework. 

​Be sure to check out our blog on Phase 1: Planning the Change.